Hudson Project organizers offer refunds for storm-shortened festival

A tractor-trailer carrying sections of the Ferris wheel that stood on the Winston Farm during The Hudson Project festival drives on state Route 32 near the farm on Tuesday.
Tania Barricklo — Daily Freeman

SAUGERTIES >> The organizers of the The Hudson Project music and arts festival say they’ll give refunds to attendees who missed final-day performances because rainstorms ended the event early.

In a late-Monday posting on social media websites, the organizers wrote: “As you all know, The Hudson Project was a rain-or-shine event, but what we experienced on Sunday night was a lot more dangerous than just a little rain. Severe weather — especially heavy rain, lightning, strong winds, flood warnings and potential tornadoes in the area — and a recommendation from the Ulster County Emergency Services and Health department(s) caused us to cancel the remainder of the event.”

For this reason, the post stated, ticket buyers will receive a full refund for Sunday.

That means people who bought a three-day ticket will receive a 33 percent refund, those who bought a Saturday-Sunday ticket will receive a 50 percent refund, and those who bought a Sunday-only ticket will get a full refund.

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Information about how the refunds will be provided had not been released as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.

“We know this doesn’t fix the inconveniences caused by weather, but we hope this helps,” the organizers said. “It was a very unfortunate ending to an amazing event.”

The festival, which began Friday afternoon on the Winston Farm in Saugerties and had a lineup of more than 85 music acts, was to run past midnight Sunday, but promoter MCP Presents suspended the show about 4:45 p.m. Sunday due to approaching storms and told all attendees to take shelter in their vehicles. At 7:45 p.m., after rounds of heavy rain, MCP announced the rest of the festival had been canceled.

The cancellation left festival attendees unable to see the event’s headline act, Bassnectar.

On Monday, hundreds of cars had to be dragged out of the mud in the festival parking area at the Winston Farm. No vehicles appeared to remain Tuesday.

Town of Saugerties Supervisor Greg Helmoortel said Monday that MCP will have to completely revamp its parking plan if it wants to hold the festival at the farm again next year.

The Hudson Project was held on the same property where the massive Woodstock ’94 concert took place 20 summers ago. That three-day event drew 350,000 people and also was marred by heavy rain, but it went on uninterrupted. That show came to be known as “Mudstock.” By late Sunday, The Hudson Project had earned such nicknames as “The Mudson Project” and “The Floodson Project.”

Hudson Project organizers have not yet said how many people attended the festival. They were expecting up to 20,000.